Possibly the most peripatetic conductor in the world, Valery Gergiev landed in Koerner Hall Friday night with the Stradivarius Ensemble, a group comprising 28 players from his Mariinsky Orchestra, although they sound more like an expansion of a typical symphonic string section, and on a good day. These Russians dig deep into their instruments, whatever the maker, and produce torrents of beautiful sound.

The most impressive element of this 100-minute no-intermission evening was Tchaikovsky’s Serenade. What a visceral experience to be immersed in the noble chorale that frames the opening movement; what a pleasure to follow the weighty but mobile pulse of the waltz. The Stradivarius players could ease up to produce a more intimate sound in the soulful Elegy, and bring a folkish lilt to the finale. But the approach here was big and confident, and sound rosy and grand.

Before this came Shostakovich’s Chamber Symphony Op. 110b. It could not be said that Gergiev and his charges captured the full autobiographical anguish this score communicates in its original form (as the String Quartet No. 8) but even if a few phrases were left to their own devices, the door-knocking had gravitas and the Russian tunes had spunk. And it would be hard to imagine a more glowing and perfectly tapered fadeout at the end.

First up was a strangely upbeat reading of Strauss’s Metamorphosen. It was not a short performance at 30 minutes, and therefore not fast, but only toward the end of this valedictory work did we have a sense that phrases were being played deliberately and for full expressive value. We understood the piece to be a 1945 lament on the destruction of German civilization by reading the program notes.

All the same, Strauss’s complex inner voicing was rendered with striking clarity. It says something about the bench depth of the Stradivarius Ensemble that the player in the concertmaster chair in Strauss was seen dutifully working on the third desk of the section in the Shostakovich and Tchaikovsky.

Waggling the fingers of his left hand while holding his trademark toothpick baton in his right, Gergiev had his head in the score for much of the Strauss and even some of the Shostakovich, although he still urged some impressive outpourings in the latter. Perhaps my slight reserve concerning his work on this night is based on experience of what he can achieve at his best.

There was sturdy applause for everything from the sold-out crowd, which included many Russian Torontonians. The encore was the Aria from Grieg’s Holberg Suite.